Roofing in Fort Lauderdale, FL

What is on the roofs in Fort Lauderdale

The city's own preservation guidelines say Fort Lauderdale's historic roofs were mostly terra cotta, metal and concrete tile, with asphalt shingles on later houses and 5-V crimp metal panels spreading in the mid-20th century. Sailboat Bend mixes bungalows with Mission and Mediterranean Revival homes built from the early 1900s to the 1950s. Mission Revival houses often hide a flat roof behind a decorative parapet, so a house that looks like a tile job from the street may also carry a flat section that drains differently.^5,6

Local rules and history that affect your roof

• In a local historic district or on a landmark, applying for the building permit triggers Historic Preservation Board review, and the city lists roof replacement by name. Plan on at least 60 days from the submittal deadline to a Certificate of Appropriateness; ordinary repairs that keep the same look and materials are exempt.⁵
• After a catastrophic event such as a tree falling on a roof, the city can issue an emergency permit without board review, but only for in-kind replacement. It will not do so for deferred maintenance.⁵
• The guidelines treat tile as a repair-first material: fix loose fasteners, missing mortar and cracked tiles individually, and consider full replacement only when more than 20% of the tiles on a slope are damaged, matching shape and color or reusing salvaged tile.⁵
• Victoria Park alone holds 494 of the 1,748 homes in Fort Lauderdale built before 1945 that are still standing, on streets platted in the 1920s.⁷
• Las Olas Isles were dredged out of swamp in the 1920s using the finger-island method, and Rio Vista, south of the New River between Federal Highway and the Intracoastal, was one of the city's first 1920s subdivisions.^8,9

Storms that hit here

• Wilma (2005). Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport recorded sustained winds of 61 knots (70 mph) and a gust of 86 knots (99 mph). Downtown took some of the worst damage in South Florida; Wilma was the strongest hurricane to hit it since 1950.^10,11
• Irma (2017). Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport measured a 72-knot (83 mph) gust, and the National Hurricane Center reported widespread tree and power-pole damage across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area.¹²

What this means for a re-roof in Fort Lauderdale

How old the houses are. The median home in Fort Lauderdale was built in 1973; 75.9% of its 101,691 homes predate 2000 and 13% were built in 2010 or later. So most houses here went up before Florida’s first statewide building code took effect on March 1, 2002.^4,13,14,15

Pre-2002 wood-deck houses. When the old covering comes off, the deck gets re-nailed to current code and a secondary water barrier goes on; in the wind-borne debris region, insured homes of $300,000+ may also need roof-to-wall connections (capped at 15% of the re-roof cost).^13,14,15

Repair or replace. Replacing 25% or more of a roof section in 12 months generally means redoing the section to current code — unless that roof was built or replaced under the 2007 code or later.^14,15,16,17

Product approval. In the HVHZ every roofing component needs a current product approval — a Miami-Dade NOA or a Florida approval listed for HVHZ use. Ask for the numbers and look them up yourself.^16,18

Roof age and insurance. An insurer can’t refuse a policy just because the roof is under 15 years old. If it is 15 or older, you can get an inspection first; at least 5 years of remaining life means age alone isn’t grounds to refuse.¹⁹